Digest in English

The government has been shilly-shallying since May 2010 over the system of simplified taxation for small companies (EVA). This is now likely to remain available until 2013, but at a punitive rate of almost 40 per cent. Abolishing or meddling with EVA will do nothing to increase government revenues, simply make life harder for small businesses.

The subsidy rules of the new Hungarian National Film Fund award the industry's government commissioner, Andrew Vajna, the indisputable right to do the final cut on all subsidized films. This amounts to reintroduction of state censorship, regardless of what proportion of the costs the state shoulders through the Fund. The producers putting up the rest of the money have no say in the matter. The procedure is part of a general strategy to turn culture into a controlled, closely surveyed system that serves the government's political purposes.

The fortnightly Wednesday Beer and Liberalism meeting of SZEMA members and friends takes place next on November 23, as usual at the Chagall Café, Budapest VI., Hajós utca 27 (near the Arany János utca Metro station) from 6 p. m. onwards.

The next discussion meeting takes place on Friday, November 23 at 7 p. m., at the Nyított Műhely, Budapest XII, Ráth György utca 4 (near the Déli pu. Metro station). The subject is The Risks of the Government Fiscal and Economic Policy: Quo Vadis Hungary? The guest speakers are Péter Felcsuti, economist and banker, and the research economists Miklós Somai and Károly Attila Soós. The moderator will be Klára Ungár, president of SZEMA.

Also advertised is the "Hova Tovább" (Where Do We Go from Here) festival of Roma arts and education on November 30 to December 14. A detailed programme in Hungarian with directions to venues is available here: http://ahovatovabb.blog.hu/

Blog entries by Kálmán László and Szüdi János cover idiocy and conservatism, what constitutes coarse behaviour, untrammelled state power, indifference, boy/girl distinctions, and deceptive appearances.